As NPP, NDC score cocoa points...
If, as a Ghanaian, your political leaning was shaken by the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) criticism of the latest increase in the producer price of cocoa, you either are too young or have a short memory.
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Read this GNA story of September 19, 2016: “The Minority NPP has reacted to the new producer price of cocoa announced by the governing NDC last week, saying the new price of GH¢475.00 is a gross injustice to the suffering cocoa farmers”.
At a press conference at Parliament House, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, NPP Spokesperson on Cocoa Affairs, said “the new price should have been, at least, GH¢600”.
This was in 2016. Sounds familiar?
On September 9, 2023, President Akufo-Addo announced an increase in cocoa price from GH¢ 12,800.00 to GH¢ 20,943.00 or GH¢1,308 per bag.
On September 13, 2023, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) downplayed the NPP level of increase, saying, “the price increment should not have been less than GH¢2,500.”
I could cite you more, dear reader.
It is all talk, cheap politics.
In contrast, please, read this: “The Malaysian government established the National Biofuel Policy of 2006... requiring that all diesel should contain five per cent palm oil biodiesel.
This mandate is expected to be expanded nationwide in 2014, with plans to increase the minimum palm oil biodiesel content to 10 per cent.
In 2012, there were 20 biodiesel plants in Malaysia.
According to an advisor to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, biodiesel production in Malaysia is expected to double in 2013”.
I tried but didn’t succeed to get the latest figures, but the import of this quote is to stress what transforms a country.
Transformational
This is what Professor Frimpong Boateng meant when he stated during a TV interview this week, that “since Kwame Nkrumah, no government in Ghana can be described as transformational”.
Transformational leadership is what the Prime Minister of Malaysia exhibited after his visit to Ghana during our First Republic.
He saw what Ghana was doing at its Oil Palm Research Institute.
He went away and sent his scientists to come and study the Ghanaian experiment.
Today, oil palm in Malaysia is known as “Red Gold” – readers of this column know what this means!
Rather than haggle over price of cocoa, I thought that by now, the NPP and NDC would be beating their chest about what they have added to what Kwame Nkrumah started doing at the Cocoa Research Institute and with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Go to CRIG today.
The scientists are doing their best, but prototypes of their initiatives require linkages with industry.
Even this NPP/NDC have not been able to do.
All they know to do is to take over CSIR lands for their relatives, friends and business associates.
How can any patriotic politician allow Chinese investors to build a hotel on CSIR lands!
And where are Kwame Nkrumah’s silos for storing grains? Abandoned.
If we cannot store our excess cocoa to control supply and demand, how can we influence the price on the world market?
If we cannot process our cocoa, then our only choice is to sell our beans at any price determined and dictated by the buyer.
Once in a while, we are lucky – only lucky - to have favourable prices.
For example, the International Cocoa Organisation has predicted that “compared to the 2021/22 cocoa year, the 2022/23 cocoa season is heading towards a supply deficit due to a reduction in production.”
All of this is entirely beyond our control.
A politician who spends 20 out of 24 hours thinking about their personal material comforts will definitely find little time for the people’s needs.
No wonder
No wonder, the people didn’t believe – and still doesn’t – the announcement in 2010 that Ghana had attained lower middle income status.
Again, why do the majority of Ghanaians pooh-pooh government claims of successes chalked by its flagship Planting for Food and Jobs?
Simple: they do not feel the change, especially in a country that imports onions and tomatoes from Sahelian West Africa.
The CSIR has developed varieties that help us leap into self-sufficiency in food but, again, we are expecting the scientists to leave their laboratories to negotiate with industry.
Text book economics
Be careful of textbook economics.
It may succeed in producing good growth rates but as every Ghanaian knows, this growth has been accompanied by little economic transformation.
The only sector of the economy that grows, and is growing, is the service sector.
And why not?
The most profitable business in Ghana seems to be shopping malls, wholesaling and retailing of imported goods.
Taking a cue from their Arab, Asian, South African and European counterparts who own these malls, the average Ghanaian, with no other hope of salvation, sets up either a kiosk or table top business, selling everything and cooking everything for sale – ever since Odo Rise gave birth to “check-check”.
There are shops and eateries everywhere.
The writer is Executive Director,
Centre for Communication and Culture.
E-mail: [email protected]
